The 120 Hours competition stands as a significant international platform for architecture students, offering them the opportunity to demonstrate their innovative abilities within an extremely limited timeframe. Spanning exactly 5 days — or 120 hours, 7,200 minutes, 432,000 seconds — this event challenges participants to work under intense pressure to develop architectural solutions that not only respond to the given theme but also push the boundaries of artistic expression.
This year’s competition focuses on designing the new National Museum of Art in Andorra, with particular attention to the Bilbao Effect. Participants are encouraged to critically examine both the positive and negative impacts of this phenomenon, prompting reflection on how architecture can transform cities while maintaining respect for their cultural heritage.
Many of the projects that emerge from this competition are celebrated for their artistic innovation, often challenging conventions and proposing new ways to engage with space, the public, and the urban environment. The tight deadline pushes students to concentrate their creativity, making the competition an excellent platform to experiment and showcase bold and revolutionary architectural visions, open to students from around the globe.
In this year’s edition, a total of 508 proposals from 76 different countries were submitted, demonstrating the widespread international interest in the competition. Among these, 16 projects were submitted from Italy.
